


Fresh Air

by chaoticlywise



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Feels, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Platonic Cuddling, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, sorry in advance, this one isn't great
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-05 00:29:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15852546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticlywise/pseuds/chaoticlywise
Summary: “What happened?” Tony asks, ducking his head to try to get Peter to look at him.“Is he okay?” Another voice asks and it sounds distinctly like Happy.“I dunno,” Peter can practically hear the frown in Tony’s voice. “Kid, you with us?” Peter’s throat feels tight and sore. His voice is raspy when he answers.“I have to- I have to get out of here, I can’t breathe.” Peter says as he tries to pull away. He knows he’s hyperventilating now. Tony’s eyebrows crease and grips Peter’s wrists a little tighter in what he hopes is a grounding way.“Wait, please kid, let’s talk first-”“Let me go, okay? I need some air.”Or:Peter goes with Tony to a charity event in California as Tony’s intern. It doesn’t go as expected when someone tries to get Peter to work for them instead of Stark Industries. Peter panics. Tony and Happy help calm him down.





	Fresh Air

**Author's Note:**

> Howdy! I got some info for you guys! 
> 
> I take recommendations (being creative and original is hard lol)! If you would like to recommend a fic, you can comment it on my most recent fic or ask me on Tumblr (@chaoticlywise). Happy reading and hit me up with some prompts!

Peter pulled at the collar of his dress shirt and Tony slaps his hand away. “Don’t do that, you’ll stretch the the material out.” Tony says without looking up from his phone. 

“That was the point.” 

“Hardy har, so funny. But seriously, stop. This is a formal event, we need to look nice, it’s for a good cause, too, so this’ll be good experience for you. And the head of of MIT admissions office is here tonight. I was gonna put in a good word for you but if you don’t want that-”

“Wow, Tony, I love how I can’t breathe in this suit! I can feel the blood circulation in my hands cutting off, but it’s really great. When can I go to another charity gala?”

“That’s the spirit, kid!” Tony says, clapping Peter on the shoulder as he tries not to pull at the uncomfortably tight cuffs and collar. How does Tony do this all the time? 

Tony looks over to see Peter looking nervously out the tinted window of the car. His leg is bouncing up and down and he’s got this pinched expression like he gets when he’s trying to figure out a really tough geometry problem on his homework. “Hey,” Tony says, settling a hand on Peter’s knee to still it. Peter looks at him and his eyebrows are furrowed. “No need to worry. I won’t lie to you, kid, the first event is always the hardest and scariest, but after the first one, it’s as easy as memorising the periodic table.” He gives the teen a reassuring smile and squeezes his knee gently, then lets go. Peter smiles back, albeit it’s a bit more wobbly than Tony would like it to be, but it’s a start.

“Okay, our stop is about to be up,” Happy says from the front seat. The car jerks to an almost stop suddenly and Happy curses under his breath. “Hell, I thought New York drivers were bad, California drivers must be on something.” 

“Careful there, Hap, we got precious cargo back here.” Tony says, shifting almost unnoticeably towards Peter. Almost because Peter notices and is grateful for the comfort the action brings. “Me. It’s me. I’m delicate, Happy.” Tony says, making Peter snort and Happy grumble something that his mother probably wouldn’t be happy knowing he said in front of a 17 year old.

They drive up to the front of the hotel that the gala is being held in and Happy gets out to open the door on Tony’s side. In the couple of seconds it takes Happy to get around the car, Tony turns to Peter with the most sincere look on his face. “Just letting you know right here and now, if you don’t want to go through with this, I’ll get Happy to drive us back to the hotel.” He says. Peter shakes his head. 

“No, no, let's do this. Besides, don’t wanna make Happy mad.” Peter says in his usual ‘I really would rather not do this but it’s important to you and you’re important to me so that’s how I’m going to get through this’ voice. Tony levels him with a look.

“Kid, Happy’s getting paid to do this. He’ll be fine if you just wanna bail now.” 

“Nope, no going back once were here.” Peter says with more confidence than he feels. Tony looks at him for a second longer, as if he’s expecting the stubborn kid to relent, but he doesn’t find anything that would indicate his unease. Before either of them can say anything else, the door opens and the car is filled with the flashing lights of cameras.

Tony slides out of the car, both grace and charm following his lose posture. Peter follows in suit and he can already feel the tendrils of anxiety settling like walls around him. Tony slings an arm around Peter’s shoulders as they make what feels like the never ending trek to the doors of the large hotel. 

“Hey, don’t forget, Happy’s here to help if you need security. It’s why I put that panic button in your watch.” Tony says so only Peter can hear. He nods stiffly. 

The doors open and close behind them and Peter’s senses dial down until he’s almost comfortable. He hadn’t even realised they were hurting him until he got out of the major noise. Inside, there was classical music playing softly and people were talking and laughing with each other. It was nice. 

“‘Member kid, some of these guys are sharks. If you start to feel anxious when talking to any of them, feel free to call me or Hap and we’ll getcha outta there.” Tony says before he pats Peter on the back and heads off in the direction of a group of people calling his name. Tony takes one last glance back at Peter and the teen sends him a smile. Tony smiles back and heads on his way, his voice and laugh is loud and boisterous and incredibly fake. 

Peter turns to face the room and the momentary reprieve from his anxiety is taken away in two seconds flat. People are looking at him, pointing and asking the person next to them about why Tony Stark brought a kid to a charity gala. He shouldn’t have come here, he made a mistake, he needs Tony and he needs to go home-

Happy’s warm hand is on his back and it jolts Peter out of his panic induced spiral. “You good, kid?” He asks Peter who nods in return. “Okay, I’m gonna make my rounds. You know what to do if you need me or Tony.” He says but the statement sounds more like a question so Peter nods and affirms aloud that he knows what to do. Happy heads off, leaving Peter completely alone.

Peter takes a steadying breath and walks into the crowd, he grabs a glass of water that a caterer was carrying around on a silver serving tray and sips it sparingly. He mingles a little, answering questions when people ask, the most common one quickly becoming ‘how do you know Tony?’ and him having to answer that he was just an intern. It was humiliating. At this point in they’re relationship, they were family, no question. Trauma does weird things to you, like make Tony Goddamn Stark have parental instincts over a kid from Queens.

Peter eventually goes to sit down on a couch by a set of stairs, facing away from most of the other people. His feet hurt and he has no idea how some of these women wearing heels haven’t sat down yet. 

He sips on his water some more and pulls out his phone. He swipes through Snapchat and looks at his peers stories. Suddenly, his spidey-sense pings. He can tell it doesn’t mean danger but it puts him on edge anyway.

A large hand settles on his shoulder. His mind goes to Tony but whoever this is doesn’t say something witty or squeezes his shoulder softly like he would. Just keeps it there. Peter turns around to look at the person who’s now invading his personal space. The person smiles down at him and it looks more terrifying than anything he’s ever seen, and he’s seen some shit. A pang of fear ripples through him. 

“You must be the infamous Peter Parker I’ve been hearing so much about,” the man says, smile still firmly intact. He pulls his hand away from his shoulder and holds it out towards Peter’s expectantly. “Dominic Miller,” he says as Peter stands and shakes the man's hand. Peter recognises the name. He owns a large business that’s all about making new medical tech. All of his work is incredible. His fear ebbs but his spidey-sense doesn’t.

“Hi, wow, you’re Dominic Miller? Like, owner of Miller Enterprises? It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” Peter says, a little bit in awe. This guy was awesome. Miller laughs and it’s a deep sound that reverberates around in Peter’s head. His spidey-sense grows more persistent and Peter wishes it would shut up for one second so he could enjoy meeting Dominic Miller.

“The pleasure is all mine, son.” He says, gripping Peter’s shoulder and leading him towards an open balcony. Peter’s so caught up in the moment, he doesn’t realise he left his phone sitting on the couch.

Once they get out onto the balcony, the sounds of waves crashing into the shore meet his ears and he perks up a little more. Peter has never been to California before but it was breathtakingly beautiful in a way that New York wasn’t. New York was full of trash and people with crushed dreams, just trying to survive. Peter thinks he might come back here when he’s older. Miller begins speaking.

“So you’re an intern for Stark Industries?” He asks, taking a sip of his champagne. Peter nods and suddenly feels more than a little out of place with his age and drink. He swirls his finger on the rim of his glass and tries not to let his anxiety show.

“Kind of, I work with Mr. Stark mostly. Sometimes I work with R&D but most of the time, I’m in the lab tinkering on new Stark tech.” Peter says, trying to keep calm. His spidey-sense was throbbing in the back of his head and he worked hard to hide his wince. Miller hums as if he’s thinking. 

“Maybe I should think about getting myself an intern,” the man says. “Stark pay you?” This… this was a weird question, right? Peter thought it most certainly was. His spidey-sense comes back with vigor and he think he maybe should have called Tony over when he was sitting by himself on the couch and had the chance.

“Yessir,” Peter says politely yet slowly. “May I ask why?” 

“Hmm, I was just wondering how you would like to come work for me instead of Stark.” He says and Peter freezes. This guy wasn’t interested in anything other than hurting Tony, he realized a little belatedly. He should have listened to his spidey-sense. Fuck. “You go to Midtown Tech, right? Well, we could use a young, innovative mind like yours at Miller Enterprises.”

“I’m- I’m flattered, really sir, but I’m happy with Stark Industries right now,” Peter said as he discreetly held down the panic button on his watch. Tony would be here soon. 

“Now c’mon, son, you haven’t even thought of all the benefits of working with me,” Miller says, sounding slightly frustrated as he places a firm hand on his shoulder. It hurt, even with his super strength. Peter does wince then, but the pressure doesn’t let up. Peter shakes his head and sets his water on the railing. “We’ll talk to your aunt, see what she has to say-”

“Excuse me,” Peter interrupts as he pulls away from the hold. He begins to make his way back into the lobby but before he can make it into the room, however, Miller grabs his upper arm and stops him from going anywhere. Peter whips around and glares at the man. “I said excuse me.” Peter said, putting as much warning into the words as possible. Miller let’s go and Peter walks into the lobby and looks for Tony. His brain is screaming at him ‘THREATTHREATTHREAT’ and he can’t focus on anything other than his one goal.

His heart is racing too fast and he can feel the oncoming panic attack from a mile away. He needs to find Tony and/or Happy and then get the hell out. 

“Sorry,” he mumbles softly as he bumps into two women who are drunkenly flirting with each other. They both send him glares but Peter doesn’t pay it any mind.

As soon as Peter turns around from the two angry women, he slams into another body. He attempts to push past but a familiar voice catches his attention.

“Kiddo?” The person asks and Peter realizes without having to look up that he found Tony, or rather, Tony found him. He feels like he could cry with relief. Tony wraps his hands around Peter’s wrists to try to get his attention. “What happened?” He asks, ducking his head to try to get Peter to look at him.

“Is he okay?” Another voice asks and it sounds distinctly like Happy.

“I dunno,” Peter can practically hear the frown in Tony’s voice. “Kid, you with us?” Peter’s throat feels tight and sore. His voice is raspy when he answers. 

“I have to- I have to get out of here, I can’t breathe.” Peter says as he tries to pull away. He knows he’s hyperventilating now. Tony’s eyebrows crease and grips Peter’s wrists a little tighter in what he hopes is a grounding way.

“Wait, please kid, let’s talk first-” 

“Let me go, okay? I need some air.” Peter says, sounding a little desperate as he pulls away and he hates that he’s the reason Tony looks like his heart was torn in half. Peter looks down at his feet. He can feel people staring. “I wanna go home.” 

Tony nods stiffly. “Okay, let's go,” he says, his tone leaving no room for argument. Tony slings an arm around Peter’s shoulders, guiding him to the front entrance as Happy brings up the rear. Peter tries not to panic. 

Once they get into the parking lot, Happy speeds in front of them to unlock the car and open the door. Peter sighs as Tony ushers him into the car first. The door closes and Tony and Peter are left in the slightly chilly and too quiet car, save for Peter’s harsh breathing. He feels sick. 

“Here,” Tony says as he pushes Peter’s head towards his own legs. “If you’re not feeling good, this should help.” He says, intentionally rambling about the science behind it.

Tony’s right, it does help. Happy had started to drive to the hotel as Peter was calming down, throwing worried glances back at the kid every so often. Tony’s hand never strayed from Peter’s back, occasionally rubbing his hand up and down in a soothing way when his breathing would pick up or a violent shiver would rack his body.

Peter sits back up and squeezes his eyes closed. His eyes start to water and burn and he doesn’t know why. “I left my phone back there,” is all Peter can think to say, for some unimaginable reason. His phone is the least of his worries. 

“That’s okay, kid, I can get you a new one,” Tony says easily, his hand moved to cup the back of Peter’s head and neck. He let’s Peter calm completely down before doing anything. “What happened in there?” Peter swallows thickly.

“It’s not- I don’t know why it made me freak out.” Peter says with a tremor in his voice. He takes a shallow breath in and lets it out shakily. “I met Dominic Miller, you know, owner of a really huge business with med tech?”

“Yeah, I’ve met him a few times,” Tony says with a look on his face that Peter can’t decipher. “Did he say something to you?” He asks and Peter shrugs. “Pete, I can’t help you unless you tell me what’s wrong.” He sighs, trying to level with the teen.

“I don’t wanna talk about it right now,” Peter mumbles and he shifts in his seat, looking a little uncomfortable with the situation. “Can we just… go to the hotel? I’ll tell you there.” Peter bargains. Tony sighs and leaves his hand in it’s spot. He figures since Peter hasn’t pushed it away, he’s okay with it being there.

Tony thinks for a minute, keeping his eyes trained on Peter, before speaking. “Yeah, but you gotta tell me what happened. No complaining.” He levels. He feels like a shit mentor/father figure right now. He shouldn’t have brought Peter into this, he knew it was a bad idea from the moment he had even thought it. But the kid had been so excited about it until tonight. Peter nods slowly. 

——————————————————————

Once they get back to their hotel, Peter goes to his part of his and Tony’s adjoining room and crashes onto the too soft bed, face first. Tony follows and feels put out of place. May would know what to do. He doesn’t have the first clue. He walks over to the bed feeling self conscious for the first time in a long ass time. He sits down and put his hand down on Peter back. Peter’s breathing hitches and he turns his face out of the pillow. His eyes are turning red and are watery. 

“Hi, spiderbaby,” Tony says and he didn’t even know he could make his voice that soft. “You got anything you wanna tell me?” 

Peter sits up abruptly and practically launches himself at Tony, who instantly wraps his arms around the kid, cradling him not unlike how he had on Titan. Sobs tear through Peter’s body and he mumbles out incoherent sentences and apologies. Peter gasps a few times, spit and tears clogging his throat. 

“Tony, you know I- I will always be on your side, right?” Peter asks, his face muffled by Tony’s dress shirt. He nods and tries to understand what happened. He rocks them back and forth much like his mother would after he and Howard would fight when he was younger. 

“Of course, kiddo. Where’s all this coming from?” Tony asks, more protective, parental feelings swirling in Tony’s chest and head and stomach. “Does this have something to do with Miller?” Peter hesitates for a second and Tony thinks maybe the kid is done talking but then he nods. 

“Y-yeah,” Peter says shakily. “He like, knew stuff about me. Not normal stuff released to the public stuff, though. He knows I go to Midtown Tech, he knows I live with my aunt and not my parents. Why does he know that stuff?” 

Anger and fear adds to the parental feelings swirling within Tony and he grips the back of Peter’s shirt in a fist. Why does this asshat know so much about the kid? His kid? He was incredibly careful about what he released to the public that involved Peter, more careful with this than he’s been with literally anything else in his life. Nobody but Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, and himself knew where the kid lived (and with whom) and where he went to school. He was gonna stick this guys foot so far up his own ass, he wouldn't be able to do jackshit for the rest of his life.

Tony puts that all aside for now, choosing to comfort, and take comfort from, his kid. “I dunno why he knows so much about you, buddy, but I swear to actual god you won’t have to worry about him anymore,” he needs to amp his security up. Sure, he’s fucking Iron Man but right now, his kid needs him. He pulls away. “You mind if I go talk to Hap real quick? I’ll be back faster than you can say ‘Iron Man is my favorite Avenger’.” Peter snorts a little as he nods, wipes his eyes and pulls away. Tony feels bad for leaving but he needs to do something to feel not useless. “Get comfy, underoos, we’re gonna have a movie marathon when I get back.” 

Tony nods to himself as the kid gets up from the bed, goes to grab a change of clothes and some toiletries and goes into the bathroom. Tony leaves the room to knock on Happy’s across the hall. The man opens the door quickly and ushers Tony in. 

“What’s the deal? What do you need me to do?” Happy asks and Tony notices that his hands are twitching at his sides, itching to do something. 

Tony sighs and drags a hand down his face. “Turns out the kid may or may not have some sort of… I dunno, stalker? God, it feels weird to call it that.” He says and Happy stiffens. “This guy, Miller, knows stuff about the kid that we haven’t even mentioned to- to like Vision let alone the public.” 

“Holy shit, Tony,” he breathes, eyes wide. “You better not be shitting me, ‘cause I’ve worked with you long enough to know just how dangerous this kinda shit can be.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Tony finally snaps. He shouldn’t even be in here. He should’ve just shot Happy a text instead of leaving his very emotionally unstable kid right now. “Just- get more security out here? And call May, have someone take her to the Compound. I want the Parker’s under lockdown. Call Rhodey in, I know he likes hanging out with the kid and Pete basically swooned the first time he met him.” Tony tries to joke but it falls flat. Happy nods and grabs his phone out to make some calls. 

Tony promptly turns around to go back to Peter’s room. He panics for a second when he realises he forgot a keycard, because of fucking course he did. Tony knocks instead and Peter answers, his hair is mussed and he wears a worn, soft looking hoodie that’s a pinkish color with charcoal colored sweatpants and fluffy socks. Tony ignores the warmth bubbling in his chest at the sight in favor of walking into his adjoining room to change himself.

Once he comes back out of his room, he finds that Peter has already taken the liberty of turning on ‘Clueless’ and making himself comfortable under the covers. Tony goes to sit next to him, his back against the headboard with his feet sticking out in front of him on the bed. Peter snuggles a little closer so his head is resting more on Tony’s chest than the actual pillow. Tony doesn’t mind, though. Just adjusts so his arm is around Peter’s shoulders. 

They settle in and watch as Cher goes about her life, laughing and oblivious to the real world. Peter’s breathing starts to even out and Tony realizes that Peter is falling asleep tucked into his side. He reaches over to the bedside table and clicks off the lamp, the TV now being the only thing lighting up the room. His phone buzzes and Tony looks to see that Happy texted saying that May will be at the Compound soon and more security is in their way to the hotel. The tight knot of anxiety in Tony’s chest since the beginning of the trip finally begins to loosen. 

Peter lets out a heavy sigh and shifts slightly as he falls into a deeper sleep. Tony’s content to let him.

**Author's Note:**

> Oooooof, okay so this one wasn't great. I wish it had turned out differently but I didn't want to rewrite it and that's what would've ended up happening if I had gone back and edited this fic really heavily. Anyway, comments and kudos are always appreciated!


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